Kevin Garnett said he couldn’t repeat what Doc Rivers said to the team during a Friday film session.

It’s probably exactly what every Celtics fan was saying last night as they watched the Lakers punch their team in the mouth, what they said when Pau Gasol grabbed another offensive rebound, what they said as the Lakers held a layup parade.

“Doc reminded us of a lot of things in film,” Kendrick Perkins said, trying to clean up Rivers’ language. “He said we came out too casual. He said that we had to win games and this wasn’t a vacation… He also said we played soft last night.”

So what can we expect the “soft” Celtics to do in Game 2? Besides not treat the game like a trip to Disneyland?

First and foremost — take back the paint. On defense that means better rotations and challenging shooters. The Celtics need to get some easy transition baskets against the Lakers, and that starts with defense, Rajon Rondo said they were reminded.

“It’s not hard to keep me out of transition if we’re taking the ball out of the basket everytime,” Rondo said.

But most of the talk was about the Celtics big men going back to being the aggressors. On both ends of the floor. The Celtics needs some offense from down low.

They need the old Kevin Garnett back. Gasol said today he thought Garnett may have lost some explosiveness since two years ago, but the Celtics were not buying that.

“In this series, (Garnett) needs to get back to demanding the ball on the block, Perkins said. “I think we got to get back to where KG is taking 20 shots a game like he did in the Cleveland series in order for us to win. We’ve got to get back to attack mode.

“Getting off of KG, I think we settled a little but too much last night, we didn’t attack. But we got to find a way to post KG a little more. Him and Rasheed. They got to want to post, they’ve got t ask for the ball. That is one of the adjustments I think we’re going to make.”

the Wizards have shown little appetite for dealing Otto Porter anywhere for a return heavy on future assets and cap flexibility, sources say

John Wall‘s massive contract looked barely movable even before he underwent season-ending surgery. Washington seems unwilling to take a step back by trading star Bradley Beal.

So, that leaves unloading Porter – who’s earning $26,011,913 this year and due $55,739,815 over the next two seasons – as the obvious way to create cap flexibility and accumulate future assets. If the Wizards are unwilling to do that, it speaks volumes to their plan.

They don’t want to rebuild. They want to win now. Porter can help them do that.

In many ways, it’s noble Washington is so committed to winning, even at great expense. That’s generally what we want from teams. We don’t want them to give up or cut costs just because they’re a couple games out of playoff position midway through the season.

But the Wizards’ spending has been… uneven. Leonsis greenlit a payroll well into the luxury tax and is apparently willing to keep Porter, which likely keeps that payroll high. Yet, Washington is also holding as many roster spots vacant as allowed, offering small savings rather than adding depth amid multiple injuries.

Maybe the Wizards just don’t believe they could sign minimum-salary players who’d actually help. But insurance never hurts on the court.

So, Washington is left looking content holding its few major contracts, nickeling-and-diming down the roster, winning a barely moderate amount and not gaining better position for the future. I’m unconvinced that’s a worthy vision, but if that’s what the Wizards want, keeping Porter helps stay that course.

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has been fined $35,000 for aggressively pursuing an opponent in an attempt to escalate a physical altercation and failing to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident, which took place after Smart was assessed his second technical foul and was ejected, occurred with 7:35 remaining in the third quarter of the Celtics’ 113-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 19

Smart was seemingly near the line between this fine and a suspension. He’s fortunate to land on the side he did.